As it is known, saliva acts as a natural defence mechanism in the mouth in order to maintain good oral hygiene. The saliva flushes the plaque on the teeth and helps to neutralise the acid and wash away sugars. This effect is enhanced if saliva flow after sugary snacks is stimulated—with fruit, vegetables, and cheese for example or with a gum as according to this invention, which has the advantage of prolonging the chewing. At the earliest stages of the decay process, the tooth surface may “heal” by deposition of essential minerals from the saliva. Saliva also helps to wash away the remaining food trapped in the hard-to-reach areas of the mouth.
While chewing the gum, chewing stimulates the production of saliva by up to several times its normal rate. When saliva flow is stimulated, its composition changes, the composition of bicarbonate increases, enhancing its ability to neutralise plaque acid. Also as saliva flow increases, the availability of minerals is increased to repair the early tooth decay.
The present invention describes a gum product that is added a mixture of carbonates and bicarbonates or mixtures hereof, to improve oral hygiene by neutralising the acid created from bacterial degradation of food residue particles in the mouth. Besides, by keeping the pH above 5.5, the risk of carries is also reduced significantly as the acids created in the mouth by bacterial break down is neutralised very fast.
The mixture of carbonates and bicarbonates in the present invention shows good support to a quick demineralisation of the saliva and pH raises quickly during chewing to above 7.5 to prevent the formation of plaque. The carbonic acid created from the reaction between the carbonate and bicarbonate and the water in the human saliva is known as a good calcium remover. This is important due to the calcium from the food would then later have formed plaque on the teeth.
The carbonate and bicarbonate or mixtures hereof in the present invention show good support to the naturally produced bicarbonate in the saliva. First of all, because of the surplus of bicarbonate is released over an extended period of time and also as the carbonate brings pH in the mouth above 7.5, acids created from the food are neutralised immediately. Therefore, acid does not cause carries.
A clinical study has been carried out with 80 persons where the Quinley-hein plaque index (QHPI) has been measured over a period of 6 weeks with intermediate results after 3 weeks. The persons were split in 1 placebo group of 40 persons and a test group of 40 persons.The placebo group the participants were brushing their teeth for 1 minute a day.The test group the participants were brushing their teeth for 1 minute a day and they were chewing 3 gums a day after the meals.Collected data was subsequently summarised by subject wise averages and analysed in the statistic software SAS.Comparisons among the treatment groups were made using analyses of co-variance (ANCOVA's) in which the baseline scores were employed as co-variable. A level of significance of α=0,05 was employed in all statistical tests of hypotheses.The study showed for the whole mouth QHPI score after 3 weeks was 15,8% lower plaque index and after 6 weeks 24,9% lower QHPI plaque index.The study show that the gum of the present invention will have an improved effect on the oral hygiene due to reduced formation of plaque and especially when chewed after food intake. The gum in the present invention will not create any laxative effect due to the lack of bulk sweeteners like sorbitol or xylitol.